Riding Blind Lambs
by Pillow Fights
Summary: Timmy and Vicky had grown to be less hostile towards each other over the years. They weren't friends by any means, but they weren't at each other's throats. After almost a full year of silent monogamy between the two, something happens that will bring them closer together than they ever were before. Even if it tears their lives apart.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright this is my first fan fiction so its not gonna be anything too amazing. I've re-read this thing like 12 times so it should be okay grammatically. If you do manage to soldier through this, it would be greatly appreciated if you leave a review. This is sort of a beginners chapter so the real story starts in chapter 2. Thanks.**

**Riding Blind Lambs**

**Chapter 1: Absence and Past Tense**

The snow was falling; which was strange. Not because they lived in Southern California, but because it was April. Winter had passed. Its unforgiving temperatures were to stay a memory for another 8 months. It seems as though Jack Frost himself decided to leave a foot in the door with one last parade of white, frozen rain. A warning that he wouldn't be gone for long...

Timmy loved the snow. He would've gone out to play but being sick and frigid temperatures tend to not mix. So he rather just stayed inside, watched Crash Nebula, and drank hot cocoa. It felt nice; Well, aside from this god awful congestion he had. It felt as if a balloon had been inflated inside of his skull.

"Uggghhh. Figures. I'm the only kid who gets sick on a snow day, and the last one of the year at that! Every other kid in the neighborhood gets to go outside and enjoy it besides me." He wished he could make this stupid bout of sickness disappear.

"_Wish..."_

Timmy had gotten to be 14 years old now. One year left until he became an official teenager in the eyes of the Fairy Council's eyes. It worries him to no end on his 14th birthday. After a couple of heart-to-heart's with Cosmo and Wanda, they decided to make the best of it rather than be worried non stop about it. Unfortunately though with his big 15 fast approaching, it was harder to not think about. With Cosmo and Wanda fresh on his mind, he began to wonder...

"Where are they?" Timmy questioned to no one in particular. He looked around the room for any pink or green objects to indicate whether or not they were with him. But none such items were around. _"__Maybe they're in their fish bowl" _He thought.

At that thought he got up from his tightly wrapped blanket cocoon and headed upstairs. Something he terribly regretted, because as soon as his feet hit the floor his body had become terribly cold and attacked by goosebumps; He soldiered through.

"Cosmo? Wanda?" He called out. No Answer. A feeling in the back of his mind poked at him, but before he let it get the best of him he decided to search further. He opened the door to his room and felt relief as he saw a yellow sticky note on the magical fish's dwelling.

"_Hey, Sport, Me and Cosmo are going to the hospital, Cosmo caught the fairy flu. So rather than have his sneezing be the end of space and time we decided to put him in a controlled environment. I'll be staying with him until he recover. I'll let you know what the doctor says. -love Wanda_

"Oh great" Timmy moaned. "Looks like I'm stuck with this" it was after he said that when he realized that Cosmo was probably way worse off than he was, so he straightened up and figured it wasn't so bad. He went back and walked into the kitchen. He opened the medicine cabinet and took some allergy pills hoping that they would run this sickness off. He sat back down, wrapped up, and turned on the TV. It was around 9a.m. that his parents came downstairs. His mom first then his dad, both were wearing very touritsy apparel and they almost acted as if he weren't there.

"Mom? Dad?" Thats because they didn't know he was. They jumped at the sudden voice. It isn't theyre fault though, I mean the kid was practically a human blanket. How were they to know that he was still home.

"Oh. Hey there, Sweetie. We thought you were at school" his mom said surprised. To which he replied "Its a snow day, buses couldn't run"

His father with disbelief evident on his face said "Now, Son, none of us wanted to go to school as kids but even we had to." Timmy was taken aback by his fathers disbelief but not surprised.

"If you dont believe me go see for yourself" Timmy defended. His dad now with slight irritation on his face opened the door. "See no sno-" Timmy's father said being interrupted by a wall of snow collapsing on him.. Timmy suppressed a chuckle so as to not offend his father.

"W-w-welll I s-s-stand corrected" Timmy's dad said shivering. Okay now he had to laugh. The snow stuck to his face just enough for there to be a fluff beard and he had frozen tusks of ice coming out of his nose. His father was too busy trying to find a way to warm up to even notice his sons laughter.

"So where are you guys going?" Timmy questioned. Though it was quite obvious wherever it was, he want going. His mother looked at him nervously and said

"We are uhh we are going tooo~" She looked around nervously avoiding eye contact. "Aaa business meeting! Yeah a business meeting innn Tibecuador!" His father father jumped in and said interrupting his mother.

"_Nice save dad..."_

"We'd love to take you with us, Champ, but we just can't. Business rules and what not. You understand. Timmy was disappointed but not surprised. This had to be, what?, the 154th time now?. I mean they had an anniversary for their 50th time going on vacation three times already. Timmy wondered if they even did have jobs.

"Well, how long will you guys be gone?" Timmy was just genuinely curious. Sometimes they'd be gone for weeks. After Vicky was hired he practically was raised by his godparents.

"Heck if I know, Son. Now Vicky will be here in to take care of you in an hour or so. There's a card on the kitchen counter with money for food. Love you bye!" Timmy stopped listening after he heard Vicky's name. At the very utterance of the girls name, his present disappointment turned into fear. He went at them with a rebuttal but it fell on deaf ears. His parents had pulled out of the driveway and went on their merry way to the airport. Not even realizing how dejected they just left their only son.

Without his fairies here, he knew today would be hell. It wasn't Vicky he was worried about, no not at all. In fact, Vicky had mellowed out over the years. Or year I should say. She still had her ever so spiteful charm but the hateful 'Burn-you-at-the-stake-for-batting-an-eye' Vicky was gone.

See, last year, Vicky had disappeared for a little over a week. Her parents had sent out search teams, made public statements, sent out flyers, put up billboards, the works. But they never did find her. At the middle of the passing week, even Timmy began to get worried. It was the same day he became worried that she showed up. He remembers his mom picking up her phone to answer it, and after a couple of seconds, had overwhelming surprise on her face.

Apparently, Vicky had called to ask if she still had her job babysitting Timmy. There were no public speeches, no ceremonies, not even a clipping on a newspaper. It was as if everyone had shrugged off the fact that Vicky was even alive. Timmy felt like he was the only one confused in this situation. He felt like the only still person in a blurry, moving crowd. The whole situation was more than abnormal, but even weirder was the way she acted when she came back.

**[Flashback]**

When it was almost time for Vicky to show up, Timmy had an arsenal of toys and traps at the ready. He figured that she was going to be meaner, and more violent than ever to make up for lost time. After being babysat by her for so many years he just thought that she thought it was her job to make him miserable. And tonight she had make-up work to do. With that in mind, The arsenal he had at hand was almost understandable but still a little overdone. You'd figure the only movie he's seen was 'Home Alone'.

When she had arrived, Timmy had a full course of fluffy pain waiting and when he started the attack with a teddy bear spear the war was on. At least for one of them. Vicky just walked past the barrage like it was nothing, because it kinda was. When Timmy came at her with a paddle ball, she just walked past him. Without acknowledgment. She only said one thing after sitting on the couch and turning on the TV.

"Just go do your chores, Timmy" He froze in place. Mostly due to confusion. Her tone was so exhausted and did she just call him Timmy? What happened to Twerp? Feeling a very strange feeling, he did what he was told without protest. After that he just sat down in his room trying to understand what just happened. A world where Vicky didn't him 'twerp' was a world that he dreamed of but now that he had it, it kinda scared him. Something's definitely different with Vicky and for reasons unknown to the 14 year old he wanted to find out what it was.

After a couple of self pep-talks and rehearsals, he was ready to enter the lions den. He went downstairs and very, VERY reluctantly sat down on the same couch as her. On the complete opposite side, of course.

"_Okay, she's not at my throat yet"_

He moved closer. Nothing. Closer... Nothing. Clos- "what do you think you're doing?" she said, clearly annoyed without looking at him. He jumped from being caught off guard.

"I, ummm, finished all my chores" he said, rather impressed of his quick thinking.

"Yeah, and? What do you want a prize or something?" She said with annoyance growing even more evident.

"I just, uhhh, wanted to know if you wanted anything to eat." He said, the nervousness showing in his voice. She looked at him for once, quizzically and suspiciously.

"Why are you volunteering to cook for me?" She asked, suspicion etched into her words.

"Im not gonna cook. I was actually gonna order something. If you don't want anything that's fi-"

"Pizza" She said, quick and dismissively. Opting that whatever was on TV is more interesting than this conversation now.

"Alright" He replied. He stood up and walked into the kitchen. Vicky watched him go into the kitchen giving a look of confusion and 'concern?'... Timmy didn't see it though. If he did im sure the whole world would've stopped dead in it's tracks. When in the kitchen he exhaled a sigh of relief. He was kind of proud on how that whole conversation went. For him, talking to Vicky was like talking to a giant human shark whom would kill you for so much as breathing in the wrong direction. Survival is a victory in his book. He picked up the phone and called his local pizza place.

"Hello, dude!, thanks for calling 'Mike E. Mozzarella's Pizza Fun House' can I take your order?" said an overly enthusiastic employee with a really heavy and stereotypical 'cool kid surfer' accent. Timmy suppressed a few laughs. _"__Is this guy for real?"_

He composed himself. "Yes, I'd like two large pepperoni pizzas for the Turner residence" He said politely.

"Sure thing, Broseph, two tubular pepperoni p's comin' at you in 30. Remember if it isn't there in 30, it's free." The employee said. It's almost as if his accent became even deeper within his next sentence.

"Okay, thanks bye." Timmy said. He hung up as quick as he picked up the phone. He felt bad for the poor employee. That dude either really hated or really loved his job. It's okay to be an enthusiastic fry cook and all but only if you have square pants. He left the kitchen, sat down, and watched TV with Vicky on the couch. The nights with Vicky became progressively better from then on.

**[ End Flashback]**

It was ever since then that they've become less and less enemies and more so equal opposites. Timmy became a ghost to Vicky. Vicky was quieter. It confused Timmy, but he certainly didn't have a problem with it. At first, he thought he was going to lose his godparents forever, being that Vicky's torture was the reason he got them in the first place. Jorgen came to see him but it was not for what he expected. As a matter of fact, he threw a curveball at him. When the young brunette ran to him begging to keep his godparents, Jorgen just stopped him and said something that would stick to the back of his mind for a long time.

"Timmy Turner, I am not here to take your godparents. I'm not allowed to tell you much, the only thing I can say is Vicky isn't the only reason you have them..." Then he poofed away in a nervous hurry. Jorgen was there for 1 minute. 1 minute that would be replayed in his head for hours. It did nothing but put him on edge. He was able to move on with the help of his godparents but there were two questions sitting in the back of his mind and always making themselves known now and then. What did Jorgen mean by 'Vicky isnt the only reason he has his godparents" and what happened to Vicky that week...?


	2. chapter 2

**Riding Blind Lambs **

**Chapter 2: Timmy's Terrible Tuesday**

As much as Timmy wanted to dwell on thinking about that sudden disappearance, he had other pressing matters to attend to. Like thinking of how he was going to get through today without dying or being severely maimed. With Vicky being an overly mellow mushroom one would assume that he would have nothing to worry about. And that would be true, if it weren't for her boyfriend Ricky. Apparently the conniving rat found a way back into the red-head's heart by means of lying through dirty, unclean teeth, and buying a series of very cheesy, unoriginal gifts. Much to Timmy's chagrin, Vicky thought it nice to bring Ricky over on certain days that she wanted to hang with the sleazeball but didn't want to lose money by denying a job. Today happened to be one of those days.

Timmy, racing everywhere from the kitchen to the bathroom, was trying his hardest to hide all sharp and poisonous objects. With good reason too. Vicky never had actually acted on the threats she made. Ricky was another story; he had hit him once when Vicky was in the bathroom. A sharp right hook with a ring hand that came out of nowhere while Timmy was busy sweeping the outside patio. It wasn't enough to do any real damage, but enough to have a message read loud and clear to the young brunette. 'Cross me and there WILL be consequences.' a sentence said without even speaking. A lesson learned without a single opening of a book. Class was over before it was in session. If there was one thing for sure, Timmy was going to listen and abide by this message. He's brave, but blatantly seeking bodily harm is for the stupid.

It's not like Timmy wanted to listen and give in. He was a fighter. He's dealt with everything from evil space commanders to bullies. Surely he could handle a grunge wannabe that couldn't grow a beard, right? Well, that would be the case if it weren't for the energy around Ricky during the indecent. The look in his eyes... Ricky had flipped the script really quick on Timmy. What Timmy saw in the 21 year old's eyes was something a little over Vicky's level. He didn't like Ricky but he sure as hell didn't like dying either. Of the top things Timmy loved doing, the very first happened to be living. He had agreed with his godparents about riding out this storm, rather than wishing it away, not sure of how Vicky would react. He just got off of her bad side he did not need to make a round trip back to it.

That's not to say that Timmy didn't use their magic to his advantage at all. He was just a little more careful so as to not make the rat think it was him turning his head into guava juice. He was genuinely afraid of what this 'man' could do to him, but he was no coward. He wanted Ricky to know he could take it and dish it right back... just maybe without the 'knowing' part. Today though...today he didn't have his godparents to protect him. Today he would have to fend for himself. With his godparents there he had a sense of security, a rainy day jar for when hurricane Ricky came to town. Now he had to improvise a back up plan or make the house so that the over-grown mistake would have to look really hard to find a weapon, giving him time to get as far away from there as possible. He chose the latter.

After running around the house and doing everything from hiding knives to wrapping broomsticks in bubble wrap, he looked at the clock and realized it had only been thirty minutes. He sighed with relief.

"Okay I still have thir-" BAM! Timmy looked at the door that had just been kicked in very wide eyed.

"Oooooh Twerrrrrp~" an unfriendly familiar voice sang. Walking in was a very enthusiastic Ricky and a very unenthusiastic Vicky. Timmy's stomach turned; whether it was the sickness or fear, he wasn't sure. He readied himself for whatever was coming to him.

"How's it hangin', Beaver Boy" Ricky mocked.

"I'm pretty sick, Ricky. You might not want to get too close". Vicky just walked past the both of them.

"Ricky if you break anything your paying for it" She said as she turned on the TV. Ricky walked to Timmy and grabbed the young brunette's face, squeezing very hard. The 15 year old took it without reaction, just holding eye contact with him. This did not amuse the human rat very well according to the way he pushed Timmy away the same way he was holding him.

"I got better things to do than deal with you. Go do your chores, Pipsqueek" The names were something young Turner could do without. It was as though Ricky spent most of his time at a table thinking of offensive things he could call him. Turner, remaining unfazed, left the living room and began mopping the kitchen.

"Why does there always have to be some brick wall in my life solely meant to cause conflict?" He vented, letting his frustration out on the empty room around him.

"I get it, I want my godparents, I need a reason to have them. But does that reason need to be Ricky? At least with Vicky they were just threats. Sometimes I wish I had the old Vicky back." Timmy internally scolded himself for wishing bad on someone else. He knew he was taught better than that. He knew she was happier the way she was now. Wait, is she? Come to think of it, he never really asked himself if she was happier. He just assumed that less violence meant less anger. He hadn't seen her scowl since then either, then again he hadn't seen her do anything but watch TV emotionless.

He continued mopping, thinking about how his life was going at the moment. Aside from the greasy human slob in the other room, he had a nice life. Great friends, anything he wanted thanks to the 'internet', and good grades thanks to AJ's tutoring him after school. No relationship to speak of but to be honest he didn't really feel the need for one. During 8th grade he had briefly dated Trixie Tang. She was no longer the stuck up princess of Dimmsdale. She had matured and expanded her social horizons, which lead to their relationship. Unfortunately, that ended rather badly. He was glad to have gotten the chance to date her but was ultimately disappointed in the whole thing. Since then, the most romance he's gotten was the occasional flirt from Tootie. He was just glad they were flirts instead of the barrage of tackles and kisses they used to be. "Let sleeping Tooties lie." He broke his train of thought after realizing that the kitchen was spotless. He took a minute to admire his work. Doing a fine job of it too until Ricky walked in.

"Wow, Twerp, you really outdid yourself this time" He said, then started walking towards the fridge.

"Umm thanks?" was all Timmy could really say. He knew something was coming, he just didn't know when and where. Of all the things to drink, Ricky decided it'd be best to down some grape soda. Not a can though, a two liter, and not in his mouth. On the floor. While the nice clean floor was being carpet bombed with the purple drink, Ricky was holding concrete eye contact with Timmy. But much to Ricky's dismay, Timmy had an ear to ear smile on his face. The grease man then had a look of question, irritation, then anger. He threw the bottle at Timmy, hitting his tooth.

"Clean this mess up now!" Ricky yelled while storming out of the kitchen.

"I swear that guy's an over grown toddler" Timmy said low enough to not be heard. Grabbing his tooth, he made sure there wasn't any damage to write home about. There wasn't. He didn't like getting bottles thrown at him that much but he loved the look on Ricky's face. He felt victorious until he looked back at the floor.

After 20 minutes of mopping he took out the trash, cleaned the gutters, cooked Ricky and Vicky's lunch, cleaned his room, cleaned both bathrooms, cleaned both bathrooms again, and cleaned the front patio. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't tired. Even more surprising was the fact that Ricky hadn't trashed anything after he went to them and said he was done. Vicky just looked at the TV and Ricky gave him an irritated look.

"Great. Go to your room." Ricky said quickly. Timmy did as he was told and went upstairs. When he entered his room he decided to have some actual fun and turned on his newest gaming system, courtesy of 'The Cosmo and Wanda Fund For A Happier Timmy Turner'. A very exclusive charity believe it or not. He didn't get to enjoy it that much though, because 5 minutes after he entered his room a very loud crash came from down stairs. Timmy thought about going to check it out.

A slight discomfort had set in. As he made his way towards the door he began to hear a bunch of fumbling downstairs. Many situations and possibilities ran through his mind on what those two could be doing to be making those noises. Some of those possibilities traumatized him and would most likely not be erased from his brain without the help of a personal brain sponge.

He sneaked downstairs ever so lightly and peeked out at the living room. It surprised Timmy to see a rather lively Vicky. Well maybe not lively, but definitely angry. Angry is the right word to go with this situation.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Shouted the red head.

"C'mon, V, dont be like that. We're grown now. What's wrong with a little foolin' around"

"It's because I'm grown that I don't want to" Vicky's face reddened. Rather it was from anger or embarrassment he wasn't sure.

"And just what's that supposed to mean" Ricky stood up. Timmy guessed it was an attempt to strike fear into the female. It instead made her angrier.

"It means you're a greasy, no good deadbea-" WHAM! WHAM!

You know if the world were to say, oh i don't know, maybe have one action that made it implode it would probably be what made Vicky stop in her tracks. See, Greasy McGee thought he would make her pay for offending him. Lets take a look back on the type a person Ricky was and have a moment of silence for this poor damn soul...Alright then. Vicky stood there very, very, im gonna go with VERY livid. She would give props to the idiots that came to her and had the nads to sock her in the kisser but it was a different story with people like him.

Timmy began to feel a very real heat emanating from the girl. The entire atmosphere of the room had changed to that one with a dead elephant in the room. He hadn't seen her this angry in a long time so he knew something bad was gonna happen. Every part of his brain was screaming to just run upstairs and pretend not to have seen anything, but he couldnt move. Her fist clenched she looked at him with fire in her eyes. Voice just below a growl but with a very unsettling smile, she counted down. Ricky was now sweating. She reared back and everything went dark...


	3. Heavy Introduction

**A/N: Okay so this is fore warning, it is gonna get pretty serious from here on. I might throw in humor when necessary but this is a drama so there will be drama. Some graphic scenes, blood, language, yadda yadda yadda. Enjoy**

**Riding Blind Lambs **

**Chapter 3: Heavy Introduction **

He woke up in a daze...and in the back seat of a car, with blood on his shirt and dried blood on his face. He sat up and was surprised to find his babysitter driving very fast down a back road. He was seeing plenty of trees around and not much else through the car window so he knew he was in the countryside.

"Vicky?" He asked as he leaned forward making sure he was seeing right.

"Why are we in the car? How did I get here?" She stomped on the brakes. He flew to the front hitting the front dashboard. Now that he was in the front he decided to sit shotgun. She looked at him. When she turned to her right, he saw a bloody mess in its literal meaning. She was covered in blood and bruises, looking very disheveled.

"Look, Timmy, We can either play 20 questions or you can help me so we avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble." She opened the door after giving him a dead serious look, and got out of the car. Timmy didn't understand why.

He followed. "What trouble? What happened?"

"We don't have time for this, Twerp" Vicky said quickly with annoyance. Walking towards the back of the car.

"I'm just confused. Last thing I saw was you and Ricky and -wait wheres Ricky?" Vicky put her hands on the trunk and sighed.

"I really screwed the pooch, Timmy. I really really screwed the pooch." She opened the trunk of the car. Timmy was just confused at first but now he was scared. Not like scary movie scared and not even like 'Ricky's gonna hit me' scared. He was scared for his life. He just stood there frozen. He knew he was dead. He wanted to cry but he didn't. He wasn't ready to die...

"..."

"I know"

"..."

"I know"

"..."

"I get it OKAY!?"

Timmy swallowed a tomato sized lump in his throat. "I'm gonna die now, aren't I?" he said growing numb and getting very shaky.

"I'm gonna be next. I witnessed the crime, I'm a liability...I'm...I'm gonna die right now." Vicky watched as the 14 year old fell apart. Mentally breaking down and though she didn't have time for this and she was really stressed, she felt a tiny tiny pang of guilt for him for a split second. He was freaking out right now. He was falling apart and she needed to calm him right then or things were going to get way worse. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Listen to me, Twerp, I'm not gonna kill you. You're perfectly fine. But we're both in trouble unless we make this sorry sap disappear. Here. Dig." She threw a shovel to him.

He just stood there and stared at the shovel on the ground. This poor kid just wanted to be sitting at home watching TV. He was sitting at home sick just a couple of hours ago. Now he was being the accessory to a murder. He wanted to argue but was too scared of what she might do if he did. This was too real, this was something he thought would never happen to him as a kid and now that it was happening he sorta just stood half shell shocked. Feeling only fear and anxiety. Looking back at Vicky, she had already started digging. He took a couple of deep breaths and picked up the shovel. He could be thrown through loops later, right now he had to hide...the body...

He started digging.

After several minutes of excruciating silence, Timmy spoke up. "Why?"

"Why what?" Vicky responded

"Don't act, Vicky" Timmy responded. "If we are gonna be in this together like you say, then you have to tell me why you didn't just kick him out of the house. Why did you murder Ricky?" Vicky jumped on him covering his mouth with her hand.

"You keep yelling things like that and you'll be meeting with him pretty soon!" she spoke in an angry whisper. Her face having fear and paranoia all over it. "Look, I know you want answers and I will tell you but right now we have to finish this." She let his mouth go and picked herself up off the ground.

He waited a couple of seconds before getting up and grabbing a shovel. Of all the things for Vicky to do, he didn't think she'd actually commit murder. Sure, she'd threat someone or embarrass someone, but murder? What if her making him help her was to have prints on the shovel? What if she was going to frame this on him? If she can commit murder, whats to stop her from framing an innocent 14 year old? Every time he decided to have a thought, his brain would turn it into some terrible outcome that had to do with this situation and him behind bars.

After they were done digging, well burying, Timmy sat down and stared blankly. Thoughts were kind of inconceivable at the moment, well, good ones at least. He had just done what he knew was impossible. His mother liked to watch nothing but criminal investigation shows. Trying to get away with murder is harder than herding a pack of tsunami. Vicky hadn't committed any crimes as heinous as this, so how they were going to pull this off was beyond him.

Wait..

What was he thinking?! Trying to get away with murder? He didn't even do it! He was dragged into this while he was unconscious! Maybe he can make a break for it. They cant be that far from the city...maybe he'll run into a nice country home with nice understanding people and they'll help him stay away from the murderous red-head. Timmy's eyes went from being solid as stone, to darting around faster than a terrified fly. And he was exactly like a terrified fly. Small and defenseless, but fast. He was looking for a quick escape. Vicky saw that. She knew she had to calm him down or this situation would get much worst than it's already gotten. Getting angry would only scare him more. She had to take a more subtle...nicer approach.

"Timmy, calm down. A lot has happened. I promise I'm not going to hurt you" She held her hands up defensively but a little outwards so as to say 'We don't need to make any rash decisions'. Vicky was holding her breath waiting for a response, hoping that he wouldn't run, she did not need more complications in this mess. She saw him searching through her words. Replaying what she just said so he could come up with a reply. Timmy looked at her for a solid 20 seconds before looking down and back up at her very cautiously.

"What makes you think I should believe you? There's evidence that you'll do the opposite of that, literally right in front of us" Timmy shot back with a little venom tipped in the last part. Hey, if he was gonna die, he was at least gonna tell her how he really felt. Vicky's threw her hands in the air and let them fall with annoyance.

"Oh my god will you quit saying that?!"

"WHY?! I DIDNT DO ANYTHING! YOU BROUGHT ME INTO THIS! I HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH RIGHT TO BE FURIOUS" He was, and rightfully so. His life was ready to fall apart, like a puzzle that had been stood upright without the structural assistance of glue. He was about to lose everything; might as well lose his temper. Vicky let out a humorless chuckle. Timmy was furious now. The person who is taking away everything is laughing in his face about it. But before he could let any words escape his mouth he heard a calm humored voice.

"Is that how you remember it?" said the red head, looking up with a defeated amusement. Timmy looked at her with an annoyed curiosity. "_What is she talking about"_

"What? when you hit Ricky I passed out, Next thing I knew I was in your car." Timmy said with annoyance. What? Was she playing games with him now? His words seemed to shock her...

"Timmy, I think you need to sit down and think really hard for a second. Is that really all you remember?" Vicky questioned dead seriously. Timmy assumed it was her interrogating him so she could feel safe about him not blabbing to the police. That was all he remembered, so he answered honestly. "Yes" Timmy replied firmly, hoping that it would get him out of this mess so he could go home and forget about this day. Vicky put both of her hands on her face. She then looked up at Timmy with a face he had never seen before; well, on her, at least. A face of trauma and regret. A face quite close to the one he was making, aside from the fear Timmy had.

She spoke softly. "Timmy I think you should sit down. We need to talk." Timmy was caught off guard by her tone and sudden show of facial expression. The only emotion he had seen her give was tired and angry. Being caught off guard by her sudden emotion did make him want to hear what she was going to tell him, but he wasn't going to be fooled. He would keep his guard up and if she pounced, he had a shovel right next to him. He'd hit her hard enough to slow her down, and book it to the closest sign of humanity. He sat down. Vicky took in a deep breath, exhaled and recounted that nights events.

**[Flashback]**

_2 hours ago..._

Timmy watched Vicky rear back and hit Ricky dead in the nose with enough force to send him flying back, hitting the 14 year old. Timmy was clearly unconscious. Ricky first had a look of shock but it was quickly erased by anger. He picked himself up from the ground and run towards her. He went to hit her with a right hook but she ducked and kneed him in the stomach, then punched him in the stomach and pushed him back. He was slowed down by her attacks but not by much. He came back at her with a devastating kick to the lower stomach that not only made her fly backwards, but nearly vomit when she hit the wall.

He went to go at her with another kick while she was down but she grabbed a nearby vase and threw it at him. It didn't break, but it gave her enough time to compose herself. Ricky tried to pick up the vase and use it as a weapon but was quickly met with a devastating kick to the face. He caught himself before falling. He looked at her with a devious bloody smile. He was having too much fun with this. She went to punch him square in the jaw but he slapped it away and met his fist with her face. She didn't recoil because he wouldn't let her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her forward into a head but that essentially knocked her out cold. He dragged her into the kitchen and began looking for anything sharp, but he didn't know that Timmy hid every sharp and dangerously blunt object in the house.

Timmy awoke to the sound of clanging and knocks. He picked himself up very dizzy and began looking for the source of the noise, taking in the damage done to the living room. He heard that the noises were coming from the kitchen so he peeked in. He saw Ricky looking through every drawer and cabinet, Timmy knew perfectly well his intentions. Knowing this, he ran for his room where he hid everything. Opening his closet and picking up a steak knife, he walked back downstairs and peeked back into the kitchen. Ricky had given up all hope of finding a weapon so he began kicking and stomping her. Timmy was scared. He knew if he didn't do something right then, Vicky was going to die. So he acted…

Running up to Ricky, he began stabbing him back to back to back. Ricky convulsed in pain, laying on the ground. Timmy was afraid to stop because he knew Ricky would kill Timmy now if he had the chance. So, he kept stabbing until Ricky stopped moving. Timmy felt safe after about 30 times. He felt adrenaline still pumping through his veins. He dragged Vicky to the living room and lied her on the couch. Timmy had just woken up and stabbed a man to death in less than 7 minutes. He was in shock for what he just did. Adrenalin running low, he began to feel very dizzy and his body finally gave out on his way to get his phone to call 911.

Vicky woke up with a very, very soar stomach, and face. She groaned in pain when the light hit her eyes. Her head was in a very wicked pain. She got off the couch and saw a blood covered Timmy. Her heart fell through the floor. If Ricky killed Timmy she was next, and poor Timmy… She began to cry but stopped herself. She needed to defend herself or she was going to die too. She saw a blooded knife laying next to him and she picked it up. She walked slowly into the kitchen, very afraid of what might happen next. She rested her hand on the door, took a deep breath, and opened it very quickly. She was a little more than relieved to see a mutilated Ricky on the floor.

Then realizing the scene in front of him, she turned around and looked at the young Turner. With surprise etched all over her face, she realized the twerp just saved her life. Ricky was going to kill her...or worse...but Timmy saved her. She had to make sure Timmy was okay, she had to repay him that much. But she had to clean this mess up. She picked up Timmy and ran him into her car. She then Pulled the car around the back of the house and wrapped the trunk of the car in garbage bags. She dragged Ricky out and threw him into said trunk. She closed the trunk, buckled Timmy in, and sped off.

**[ End Flashback]**

"And that's when you woke up, I stopped here, and here we are." Vicky said with a sigh. She was exhausted.

Timmy's eyes widened with each word that the red-head said. He did do it….he….he killed Ricky. Timmy began to hyperventilate, tears welling up in his eyes. He can't believe he did that. With every word she said, the memory of him doing so came back and crushed his 14 year old heart. He was horrified. Timmy just fell to the ground and cried hyperventilated sobs. Vicky looked up and saw him.

Vicky saw him lay there and cry. In all honesty, it tore at her heart. She was so sorry for him. She could understand his cries. She could understand why he felt that way. The poor kid just committed murder to save her. She had never killed anyone in her life. The most she would do is blackmail someone, but that about it. Vicky crouched over to him and pulled him into a hug. That seemed to have calmed his breathing. She pulled away and looked him in the eye.

"Look, Timmy, I know you are processing a lot of feelings right now but we need to get this done. Then we need to get home and clean up the mess there." Vicky said with sympathy. Timmy shook his head.

"Okay, get some leaves and underbrush. We need to cover this up" She said walking to pick up the said items. Timmy sat there for a minute and then got up and slowly did what she told.

After covering the man made grave. And burning the garbage bags 10 miles away, they headed back to the house. They drove casually so not to attract attention. A very silent drive. Timmy just stared forward with no expression, breath very, very calm. Vicky stole glances at him, wondering what was going through his brain. She couldn't imagine what was going on in his brain. The kid that had never hurt anyone, a murderer? No. He saved her. He was a hero if nothing else. She began to think out what her next move was gonna be. Timmy just started a game of chess against the 'Dimmsdale City Police', and the only advantage they had were some of Vicky's expertise, and the time it took to for the police to realize Ricky was gone.

She pulled into the yard and drove around back, so as not to be seen with bloody clothes on by the neighbors. She told Timmy to go get changed and that she would be going back to her house to pack herself some essentials and clothes, she told Timmy to do the same.

Timmy sure as hell didn't trust her. Why should he? She didn't murder him but what was to stop her from turning him into the police? He just sat on the couch and thought long and hard about today events and how quickly everything just went from 0 to homicide. He knew that even if they did believe it was self defense, he would definitely get jail time for the horror of the scene. Timmy began to feel guilt setting in. Yes, Ricky was a convict, thief, liar, and all in all a terrible human being but he was still a human being. That's what ate at Timmy the most. He killed a human being. He, Timmy Turner, took a life….


	4. Assessing The Damage

**Riding Blind Lambs**

**Chapter 4: Assessing The Damage**

Timmy sat there for a good 5 seconds before he heard a loud thunderous boom, and a poof. Timmy hadn't even thought of his godparents and how they would react or how Jorgan would react. He was running circles in his own head, didn't know what to do so he just stood frozen. A very large muscular fairy with a heavy wand poofed into his room. A fairy by the name of Jorgan Van Strangle. He wore a look of sympathy.

Timmy knew what was coming, but he was in a mental denial. There had to be a loop-hole, there had to be a hidden rule. Something HAD to work in his favor. With everything that had happened today, something had to go right. Timmy still stood with a more than defeated look. Jorgan saw this and sighed.

"Timmy Turner, you know why I am here." Timmy nodded his head, tears welling up.

"Then you understand what you did wrong?" Jorgan asked. Again, Timmy nodded his head letting the tears fall.

"You are granted to see your fairy godparents once more before it is final." Jorgan said looking at the ground. He barley lifted his wand and let it fall. With a poof, Cosmo and Wanda appeared and immediately flew over to Timmy. Wanda and Cosmo hugged Timmy extremely tight, crying their eyes out.

"Oh Timmy! We're so sorry this happened. If we were here we could've prevented this whole thing from happening. I'm so sorry! Jorgan is there anything we can do to stay with Timmy?" Wanda pleaded to Jorgan. He just shook his head. He let no tears fall, but his heartbreak was all the same.

"I'm afraid this is too bad an offense, Wanda" Jorgan said sadly

"But what about the 'Timmy Turner loop-hole'? Or the fact that he saved Vicky's life? Does none of that matter?!" Wanda cried out. Now sobbing. Cosmo comforted her as they hugged Timmy.

"Wanda,...The Fairy Council has had this happen only once and since then, we've kept a zero tolerance policy. I want you two to stay with Timmy, I truly do, but I'm afraid the Fairy Council has decided" Jorgan said with disappointment and dismay. Wanda now looked down still crying. Cosmo wouldn't let go of Timmy. Not saying a word. Just enjoying the embrace of his godchild for the last time. Everyone heard a faint noise. It was Timmy trying to speak. He spoke up.

"Jorgan, I know I can't keep them. I expected that. I knew this was coming and I have to take responsibility for what I did" The tears began to start up again and his words becoming incoherent. He took a deep breath.

"But Cosmo and Wanda have given me more happy memories than I can even count. They've taught me so much and loved me more than any of my real parents have ever. I'm not gonna ask to keep them because I know that's out of your control. But I will ask you one thing..."

"Please let me keep the memories!" That was it. The faucet was broken. He was sobbing louder than ever before. He was breaking right in front of them. He was losing his only family right in front of him. Timmy spoke in between sobs repeating the same plea.

"Please let me keep the memories, please Jorgan that's all I want!" He cried.

Jorgan turned away, likely hiding tears. "Let me check with the council. I will see what they have to say." He poofed away and poofed back just as quick, this time with a large scroll floating in front of him.

He read from the scroll. "Timmy Turner, you have broken an ultimate rule drafted and finalized by the Fairy Council. The consequences of this are punishable by the confiscation of your fairy godparents and the wiping of your memory, along with complete condemnation by the Fairy World." Timmy began to cry again..

"But! Due to the many times you have saved Fairy World, the circumstances of your case, and the true love that you share with your godparents, we will let you keep your memory of them and not condemn you as a fairy race. We will also let you see your godparents on the conditions that they lose their fairy powers and are bound to the human world, however this is not your choice to make and will be decided by your fairy godparents If they do agree, It will be as if you knew them as humans and not fairies" Jorgan poofed away the scroll and looked at Timmy.

Timmy looked at his godparents, sniffling. He was waiting to see what their answer would be. He knew it was a tough decision. He hated that he was putting his godparents on the spot but he also really wanted to keep them in his life. They were truly his parents to him, and he needed them. Wanda almost immediately said yes and Cosmo shook his head with a smile. Jorgan nodded his head.

"Very well, but I will warn you that this is a very delicate and time consuming process. Your Cosmo and Wanda will have to go through training on how to be human. It will probably be a while until you ever see them again. Other than that, Timmy Turner you may keep Cosmo and Wanda as part of your human family." Jorgan

"Thank you so much, Jorgan. You have no idea how much this means to me." Tears flowing but with a smile on his face.

"You are very welcome Timmy. Well, I have business to attend to. I'm afraid you'll need to say goodbye to your godparents for now."

Timmy walked over to Wanda. "I'm sorry, Wanda, I didn't mean to- I mean I didn't know thi-" Wanda put a finger on his lips to silence him. With a smile Wanda said.

"It's okay, Timmy, you did what you thought was right and saved a persons life in the process. Just remember that thought violence may be a quick answer, it's not always the right one. We have to get back to the hospital before Cosmo has another one of his fits. We love you, Timmy" They hugged for a long time before Jorgan cleared his throat signaling it was time to go.

Timmy let go of Wanda and Cosmo, and they floated over to Jorgan's side. They waved goodbye and were gone in a poof. Though keeping his godparents made him extremely happy, Timmy looked at the now blank space in the living room with a very sad look. He knew it would be while before he ever saw his godparents again.

Before heavy depression set in, Timmy heard a knock at the door. His heart sank like the titanic. He knew, he just knew it was Vicky with the police. Another knock. The 14 year old went to get the door but his legs were so weak from fear, he fell as soon as his feet hit the floor. He crawled before picking himself up. He answered the door to Vicky holding a box of cleaning supplies.

"Alright, get your bags and put them in the car" She said in a hurry walking past him. She turned around and looked at him questioningly. "What?" She asked

"I..I didn't really pack anything" Timmy said looking down.

"What?! Why? You know what, it doesn't matter. Just go pack your stuff now while I clean this up. When you're done come help me." She said in rushing into the kitchen.

Timmy did what he was told. Something told him he would be gone for a long time so he took a lot of his clothes and shoved them in a book bag. He took an extra pair of shoes and some hygiene products as well. He stopped in the middle of his room and thought about what else he would need. He looked at his nightstand and opened the top drawer, feeling around the top of the inside. He grabbed what he was looking for and put it in his front pocket. Over the past few birthdays he had saved all of his birthday money in a safe place where no one could keep it. He couldn't remember for the life of him why he had been saving as much as he did, but was glad he had enough for an emergency such as this.

He checked around his room for anything else he might need and when he felt that he had enough, he ran downstairs and threw two bags in Vicky's car. Walking back into the kitchen he saw Vicky wearing gloves, an apron, and goggles. Scrubbing the floor with a brush vigorously. She noticed him walking in so she handed him a brush, gloves, some chemical in a yellow bottle, and told him to scrub the counter tops. He noticed that it was fizzing. After a good 10 minutes of scrubbing the same spots (he had to be very careful to not miss a spot) he asked Vicky if there was anything he could do. She handed him air fresheners and told him to hide them around the house so nobody knows that chemicals were just used in the kitchen so as not to raise suspicion.

After that, Vicky went over her mental checklist and physical checklist to make sure they weren't forgetting anything. She came to the decision that they weren't and made a few calls. Timmy was in the kitchen while she was on the phone, he was on his phone texting his parents.

"_Hey, mom and dad, I'm staying over at Vicky's apartment for now. She has a lot of college work to do and she has all of her work over there. I can't see why you guys would have a problem with it so I agreed. It's closer to school so I'll still be going. Love you guys" _He waited until a text came in on his phone reading_ 'K luv u". _He rolled his eyes. Why even text them if they aren't even gonna really care? He got up and grabbed a drink from the fridge, he walked back in the living room to an awaiting Vicky. "You ready?"

He was wearing an unsure and scared look but he nodded his head. Vicky looked at the ground and furrowed her brow. She knew this poor kid was just saying what she wanted to hear. In truth, He was having an anxiety attack. Everything was happening at once and on top of worrying about the task at hand, he had been worrying about everything else. What are his friends gonna think? Will he ever see his friends again? What will he do about school? When are the cops gonna catch up to him?

"Look, I know you are really scared and probably thinking a mile a minute and are probably thinking a mile a minute right now, but we have to be calm, collected, and casual about this or else it will all fall apart. Vicky rested a hand on his shoulder. He looked her in the eye and nodded his head.

"C'mon, we have to go sort out our next move." Vicky lifted herself up and walked towards the front door. Timmy took a deep breath and followed behind her. He had to forget about his worries right now if he was gonna make it out of this situation. He had some relief though, he got to keep his godparents. The day _could_ be worse.

They walked out of the front door and Vicky locked it. They stepped outside into the still snowed front lawn, and got into Vicky's car. Vicky turned on the car and let it sit there a little while so the engine could warm up. She turned on the heat, put in gear, and drove out of the backyard into the front yard onto the road. She glanced at Timmy and looked back at the road.

"Hey..." she said to get his attention. He looked at her with raised eyebrows that were asking what she was going to say.

"Okay, so here's what we do, we cleaned up the mess in the house and got most of the handy work over and done with so now we need to do the hard part. Coming up with a sound alibi that is 100% fool proof. Our story needs to have no loose ends, no mistakes. We need to have a story for what we were doing the past 3 hours detail by detail, but not too detailed or we'll be put under suspicion. Crime Scene does not play, they look for any small sign of a clue, I mean miniscule type clues. Do you understand?" She looked back at him. Timmy nodded.

"Okay. Now we're gonna head to my apartment, nobody will think its suspicious. Did you tell your parents what I told you to?" he nodded again. "Good"

The rest of the drive was filled with silence, other than the low roar of the tires against the road. Timmy took this time to think about what he was gonna do. Of course, he was gonna do whatever Vicky told him to do, but he needed to get his brain in check right now. If he kept thinking at this fast a rate without contemplating any coherent thought, he was gonna have a seizure. First up was how he was going to act around his friends. He knew they would catch on to any small detail and if they kept prying, he wouldn't be able to keep his secret for long.

He had to text them casually. Not all the time, but in general throughout the day. Not everyday though. He had to check in on his friends every once in a while but not all of them at once, less he raise suspicion. He can't give anyone any reason to raise any questions. He would ask them whats up, talk for a minute or two, and then let the conversation slowly die from there. He made these mental notes, knowing not to type or write anything down. Anything at any point can be evidence.

He was drawn from his thoughts at the sight of Vicky pulling into her parking spot and turning off the car.

"Listen to me, you don't talk, I'll do all the talking if we run into anyone. Understand?" she said with an even tone. Timmy nodded his head.

They got out of the car and walked to the trunk, opening it and grabbing their things. Timmy wondered why Vicky had gotten her things from her place just for them to come back to where they were at the moment. He grabbed his two bags and walked with her. They walked into the building and straight to the elevator at a casual pace. When they called the elevator they stood there for a couple of seconds. Thanks to Vicky's reputation, no one was too keen on coming to say hello. I'll reiterate that she isn't the hateful person she was anymore, but fear kinda sticks.

To their relief, they heard a ding and the doors opened. They walked in and Vicky pressed 7. Timmy felt uncomfortable in elevators, he didn't really trust them so he clung to the rail inside until they had gotten to their floor. Vicky just stood there tapping her foot. They felt inertia take its place when gravity pulled them down a little harder since they were going up. Once they had stopped, Timmy let out a breath he had apparently been holding. Vicky had heard this and turned around before exiting.

"You good?" Vicky asked sort of amused, hoping to lighten this depressing and frightened atmosphere. He looked at her then looked down, his face pinked a little

"I don't really like elevators" he said lowly. She let out a slight chuckle.

"It's okay I used to hate them too, guess living with one made it a little easier to get used to." she said in an attempt to make him feel less uncomfortable. His looked softened a but, but all he did was nod. She frowned a little.

"C'mon" She said gesturing him to walk with her to her room.

She pulled out her keys and opened the door to her apartment. She walked in and Timmy followed her. He noticed the place had a sweet scent to it, to him that was strange. She never smelt anything sweet when he was around her, then again he wasn't a bloodhound. It was nice and cool in her apartment but Vicky must have not liked that since the first thing she did was walk to the thermostat turn on the heat. She then walked to her couch, kicked off her shoes and sat down with an audible sigh.

Timmy sort of just stood there in the area between the door and the living room. He looked around to see a kitchen immediately to his left and a dining table to his right. In front of him was a living room complete with a couch, entertainment system, TV, a couple of gaming systems, and another couch beside the fore mentioned couch. The couch was facing the same direction he was so Vicky's back was to him. To the right of the living room, what looked like a bedroom door was visible, same as to the left. It was a really nice apartment in his opinion.

Vicky noticed him just standing there. She arced her head over the back of the couch.

"Y'know believe it or not, I don't have a dangerously contagious disease. You _can_ sit down." Timmy looked at her for a second before nodding his head and going to the couch next to hers. He took of his shoes and slid them under her coffee table. He leaned back into the couch. They sat in silence for a good few minutes. Vicky yawned and stood up.

"I'm going to bed" she said walking to her room which was on the right side. "Oh wait...I umm don't have the other room furnished...I have extra blankets so you can sleep on the couch for now." She saw Timmy nod. She left to get said items and was gone for about 14 seconds before showing back up with a comforter and a pillow. She looked at him and told him 'night' then walked into her room, shutting her door.

While Vicky slept, Timmy just sat there in the darkness staring directly in front of him. Vicky was off to sleep and Timmy began to think about the elephant in his head...


	5. Trust Issues

**A/N: I know this took a while and I'm sorry for taking weeks. As for this story...I feel like its a little like a filler chapter but I'm just trying to progress the story a little. Keep in mind it is slow paced. If you hate it and you really want to let me know, leave a review and tell me how you feel. Thanks.**

**Riding Blind Lambs**

**Chapter 5: Trust Issues**

Timmy sat there in thought. He just sat there in the darkness. Where had his life gone? I mean, was this really happening? He was just trying to save Vicky's life, maybe _that's_ why she hadn't turned him in… Had she really learned appreciation? He glanced at her door and turned back. That kinda made Timmy feel a little better, I mean yeah everything had gone way down under but At least the world was showing him some mercy. And in one of the most unlikely places.

"_But how long will it last" _He thought

Though it is true that Vicky owed her life to him, he knew that hiding a murder from the police is harder than hiding the moon. Eventually one of them would have to give, he had a feeling it would be her too. He didn't really like the thought of having Dimmsdale's most impulsive person being his only hope at making it out alive but he had to trust her. Not just because she hadn't betrayed him yet, but because he knew she had more tricks up her sleeve than a double crossing magician. She had friends in the right places, her mere presence in this game was enough to level the playing field in his favor. He had to trust her, but he really hated that fact.

But getting away with it was not really the most important thing on Timmy's mind. He hadn't had enough time to think about it, with everything happening at once. Now his thoughts had the silence they needed to be as loud as possible. To remind him that he took a life. He ended the chance for a human being to endure and experience life for its true beauty. True that it was Ricky, but now with everything that happened, that didn't matter anymore. He replayed the scene in his mind. Each horrific thrust of that blade into Ricky's skin was played over and over in his head. It hurt him each time he saw it. He was guilty, he was sorry.

The harder and harder he thought about these events, the deeper the hole got. With each thought being replayed, he shoved a spade into the ground and dug a little deeper into depression. Right now this hole was about 3 feet in. Timmy could still climb out if he wanted to, but opted not to. He didn't really deserve to be above the dirt. He looked up, looked back down and kept digging. While in real life Timmy just kinda sat there with a straight face. In his head he was crying and hurting, while on the outside he kept a straight face with a little bit of a saddened brow. He couldn't cry if he wanted to.

Panning out behind him and looking into Vicky's room we see a conflicted Vicky, fighting to get some shut eye. After a fit of tossing and turning, she gave up and threw her pillow at the wall. She was angry. If she had just called the police instead, she wouldn't be in this mess. Hell, the poor kid might have gotten out on the case that he saved her life. It was too late for that now. She was on this boat heading toward oblivion with the young brunette. There wasn't anything she could do about it either. She didn't really like owing people, mostly because of situations like this. _Like _this, not _this_. This was too much. She's an accessory to murder now, there was no turning back. She looked up at her roof and thought

"_How long until this ends? Until he cracks under the pressure?" _

She had some expertise on getting rid of evidence but not murder type evidence, now she had to know the ins and outs of this whole situation. She had to put everything aside in her life because this was going to be more than a full time job. This was going to be her temporary life. No exceptions. This thought almost tore her down. She had worked so hard to get out of the bad life but almost exactly a year later, she's brought deeper into it than she ever was before.

And the poor kid. She knew Timmy was off way worse than her. She couldn't imagine what was going through his mind. She glanced at her bedroom door. She thought about going into the living room to talk to him about it but went against it.

'_Of all the people to get help from, I'm sure I'm the last person he'd go to'_ She looked down.

She felt guilty for the way she treated him. Even when he was trying to be nice to her, she wouldn't let him. She couldn't bring herself to pretend that everything was okay. She couldn't bring herself to be mean to him either. So she just pretended he wasn't there. 'Outta Sight, Outta Mind'

Now not only was she dealing with the possibility of imprisonment, but she was also dealing with the fact that the boy she embarrassed and harassed for years was the same boy that saved her life. She rubbed her hand on her cheek. She still had plenty of bruises from that fight. She was disappointed in herself for not being able to defend herself. She looked back at her door. The thought that the boy who was probably self lashing himself and crying in the next room saved her life, was enough to make her stand up off of her bed, walk towards that door, turn right back around, and lay back in bed. She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to have that conversation with him.

"_I've become such a coward"_ She thought to herself

They both spent that night, getting barley any sleep, and instead getting plenty of self loathe and sadness. She, about the fact that she couldn't face her hero. And, he, because his was too scared to help him.

**-**_The Next Morning_**-**

Vicky awoke with the sun beaming in her eyes. They shot open and she looked at her alarm clock with lightning speed. She immediately began panicking and honestly didn't know why. When she realized there was no need to, She lied back down for a couple of seconds, letting her heart rate die down. After fully waking up, she went into the bathroom and took a shower. Timmy was in the living room at the time. He had only gotten an hour or two of sleep. He kept having dreams that scared him awake. It was as if Ricky's spirit was trying to get back at him. With every dream that woke him, he went back into a slight depression before nodding back off to sleep. The cycle repeated the majority of the night.

Now Timmy was sitting in the exact same position as last night, staring at a blank TV. His mind was essentially static so he didn't really notice it when Vicky stepped out of her room and walked to the kitchen. She looked in her fridge and grimaced at the fact that there was nothing in it. She looked around in the cabinets and still nothing. She decided she would go get something since that's all she could really do. She grabbed her keys and asked Timmy in the other room if he wanted to come get something to eat with her.

She _had_ asked him something but she might as well have been talking to nobody at all. He wasn't there. He was worn and tired. He just wanted to sleep and keep sleeping. Vicky turned around and asked her question again. Timmy just sat there. She put her keys on the table next to her and walked around the couch to face him. He was just staring with the same tired, dead, unblinking eyes that spoke words of defeat and the hollowing of one's soul. In all honesty, he hadn't even noticed that she was in front of him.

She snapped her fingers in front of his face and he jumped, looking up at her with surprised confusion.

"Hey, uh, you wanna go get something to eat?" she asked with a look of quizzical concern. He seemed to ponder it for a second before nodding his head. She replied with a nod of her own. She was beginning to question his behavior. As much as she was trying to sympathize with his emotional state right now, she couldn't help but wonder whether he was going to be able pull off acting natural. She tried to push it back. _"We have a few days. He'll figure it out by then, he's strong."_

But her thoughts couldn't be farther from the truth. It's true, Timmy is strong, but not strong enough for this. Anyone who isn't devoid of a conscience would feel the way Timmy feels, whether they'll admit it or not. Timmy had a broken leg right now and he needed a crutch. He needed Vicky, but her fear keeps him crawling.

The two walked to the elevator. Vicky pushed the button and Timmy's eyes stayed locked on the floor. Vicky noticed this and sighed. The elevator arrived, they walked in, and the doors closed behind them. When the elevator landed they walked to Vicky's car. Timmy sat in the back. Vicky took notice and asked why he decided to sit in the back. He looked at her for 4 seconds, looked down, and climbed into the front seat. _"He need's someone to talk to just HELP HIM!"_ She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out other than a sigh. She stared the car, backed out of her parking space, and pulled out of the lot.

Vicky had stopped at their local coffee shop. It was fairly quaint and comfy. The type of place that you don't really notice until it's pointed out in front of you. When they had walked in, Timmy noticed that the place had been flooded with an aroma of coffee that would wake the dead, It smelled overpowering at first but he grew to like it after a minute of two. Vicky told Timmy to get them a place to sit. He walked over to an open corner booth and sat in it. When he sat down, he looked around the place to see mostly people on their laptops and phones. He figured he'd blend in by just scrolling up and down on his phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and realized that Chester had texted him.

"_Yo, you not coming' to school or what?"_

He actually totally forgot about school that morning. He replied to Chester's message figuring he'd just tell him he was pretty sick, then he began to wonder what he was going to do about school. It's not like his life's gonna give him off time to figure his situation out. He just figured he'd ask Vicky, though he was trying to avoid talking to her. He just didn't really feel like talking to anyone. He didn't even really want to text Chester back. He wanted to either lay in his room and sleep, or sit in silence and think. His head was flooded with incoherent thoughts of guilt and deep sadness, he needed time to get over this. Time he didn't have. Either way he wanted to be alone. He appreciated her help but his emotions were too overbearing to even have the energy to speak. He felt a weight that couldn't be lifted.

Vicky returned with some muffins and coffee. She handed one of each to Timmy. He kinda just stared at them before nibbling on the muffin. She began to eat too. While eating, she decided to discuss their current situation to him. They needed a game plan.

"Okay, so I was thinking that maybe we shouldn't stay at my place. Too suspicious, I mean, suddenly up and living with me until your parents get back? That practically screams 'we did it'. So we're gonna go back to your house, there's a guest bedroom and I can stay there. After that, I'm gonna go back to the site to-" She looked around cautiously. "Cover up anything we might have forgotten" she spoke in a low whisper. All the while Timmy just nodded.

"After that, I guess we'll have the rest of the day to ourselves" She said leaning back into her seat and taking a bite of her muffin.

"School?" Timmy said lowly with barley any expression of emotion.

"Oh right….Do you want to go?" He shook his head.

"Well I can just call the school and tell them you're very sick or a family emergency had came up or something. You can't stay out too long though. Remember, we can't attract attention" she said in a lower tone.

After they, well, Vicky finished eating they took their coffee and left towards Vicky's apartment to get their things and go to Timmy's house. When they pulled into the apartment building's parking lot, they saw a patrol car in a parking space next to Vicky's. Vicky tried not to get too freaked out about it but she had a nagging feeling that this morning was going to get unnecessarily tougher. She looked at Timmy and he looked at her, they both gave a small assured nod. At least he could control himself when needed, but maybe it was the fear that was driving him. They got out of the car and walked into the apartment building's lobby.

They made their way to the elevator and pressed the up button, Vicky decided to let this waiting be her chance to scope out the area. She didn't see any police so she relaxed a little. The elevator arrived, the two stepped in, and Vicky pressed 7. Timmy clung to the rail along the ride. When the doors opened they turned to the right and saw two officers at their neighbors door.

Timmy looked at Vicky with fear noticeable in his eye. She gave him a reassuring nod. She took a deep breath and they walked towards her apartment door. With each step, a hypothetical went through her head of what the officers might be there for and the outcome of what may happen when she does talk to them and answer their questions that she knew they had for her. They approached their door. An officer noticed them and walked up to the two.

"Excuse me, ma'am? Name's officer Vince. Are you this woman's neighbor?" The officer asked pointing towards the door next to Vicky's.

"Yes, why? Did something happen?" Vicky asked with fake concern

"Yes, do you mind if we have a word with you?"

"Well, no, I don't see why not. Do you know how long it will take?"

"It shouldn't be long, just have a few questions we need to ask you" He nodded towards the door to initiate Vicky opening it. She opened the door and walked in along with the officer and Timmy. Vicky sat in the living room along with Timmy. The officer looked at Vicky then at Timmy.

"Sorry, son, this is kind of a serious issue. There any way you can sit in your room or something" The officer asked kneeling down in front of Timmy. Vicky spoke up.

"Oh I'm his babysitter. Just came here to get some clothes and stuff because I'll be staying at his house for a while."

"His parents out of town or something?"

"You'd be hard pressed to find a time when they're not" She said in a tone that spoke of irritation towards the parents. "They never really told me how long they'd be gone so I'm just packing a bunch of clothes and stuff as a 'just in case'."

"Ah, I see, mind if we step outside then?" the officer asked getting up. Vicky looked at him.

"You gonna be okay?" Timmy looked at her and nodded

The officer and Vicky stepped out of the apartment and into the hallway. The officer spoke first.

"Miss?"

"Victoria"

"Victoria" the officer continued, "Do you know a Mrs. Daniels that lives next to you?" Vicky nodded

_Inside the apartment_

"_Wow, she can really act" _Timmy thought. He shouldn't be too surprised though, this was the queen of deception he was thinking about. He was surprised at how calm he was when the police were in front of him. When they saw that patrol outside of the building, his heart fell 10 stories and 2 more. When the cops were right beside their apartment waiting for them, he knew his fate was sealed. But once the cops were right in front of him, he was okay. Then again, he wasn't being asked any questions that pertained to his situation at all. He had no reason to be scared. But that's not to say this stress train was over for the young brunette. God knows what they're talking about with Vicky.

Timmy noticed his stomach grumbling _"Should have eaten"_ It seemed that almost every little thing was getting to Timmy since the incident. Which is why he felt significantly stupid for not eating. Not like 'typical oopsie' stupid, more like 'I'm terribly at making the right decision' stupid. With each tiny mistake he made, every little mess-up, he would lash at himself and dig the hole deeper and deeper. He got up off of the couch and walked towards the fridge and opened the door. He saw an almost completely empty refrigerator. He sighed and looked down.

"_Guess I can wait until we-...If we go home" _He went and sat back on the couch. Staring intently at the same TV as last night

_Outside of the apartment_

Vicky's eyes widened. Not because of the fact that a man had found his wife dead on the floor in the next apartment, but because the police weren't there to arrest them. Though the police finding Ricky's body and pinning it on them within a day was impossible, It was still something they were very afraid of. In that state of mind, every time you see a cop you think they're watching you. Waiting for you to mess up. So with the way they were thinking, it was completely possible in their minds.

"That's awful" said the red head with surprise

"Yeah, have you seen Mr. Daniels acting strange lately."

"No, as a matter of fact, I've only seen him once. It was around the Time when I first moved in here. The guy was yelling at the receptionist about how loud the 'teenagers' were upstairs. Poor bastard swore there were kids playing loud music on the floor above us." the officer was writing her statement down.

"Did you ever hear any music?" Vicky just shook her head.

"You ever hear anything from the apartment next door?"

"Well, he was always yelling now and then"

"What about?"

"Mostly just at Mrs. Daniels to get him some food or drink. But there were times that he complained about the music that was never playing."

"I see. You've been a great help. Thank you" The officer left back towards the Daniels' apartment.

Vicky walked back in her apartment, shut the door, sat against it and let out the deepest breath she had ever been holding. She was so scared that she was laughing when she found out that the police were not here to convict the two of them. It wasn't a laughter of humor but more of her forcing air out of her lungs involuntarily, which kinda seemed like a laugh. It was a laugh of relief. Timmy watched her with a perplexed look. She got up after 20 seconds, walked over to the couch, sat next to Timmy, and put her face in her hands.

Talking through them, she said: "We dodged a bullet." she said with a sigh. He nodded. She didn't see it.

"Well I'm gonna go pack some clothes and stuff. Be right back."

_Meanwhile_

The two officers were getting the rest of the statements needed. The first, named Till, was just leaving the widowed husband in his room and preparing to leave the apartment. On his way out of the door he was met with Vince, the one that had just questioned Vicky.

"That poor old man isn't right up there but I don't think he did it. We'll definitely need a psychological evaluation on him though." said officer Till.

"So, if not him, who do you think did it? Vince replied

"No way I can be sure yet. What'd the neighbor say?"

"She kept describing hearing Mr. Daniels yelling about kids on the roof with music. There was something I noticed though"

"Oh yeah whats that?" He said lighting a cigarette and pressing the downward button on the elevator switch.

"When I told her about what happened to Mrs. Daniels and began asking questions about the husband, she looked almost relieved. Like me mentioning another suspect brought her some peace of mind."

"You think she did it?"

"No way. I would say that she knows a little more about this than she's telling us though"

"Well I have to notify the rest of the family. When you're done with everything else you need to do, see if you can follow her and find something a little out of the ordinary" Till said walking towards the patrol car. Vince nodded while entering into his own car and leaving along with Till.

_Back in the apartment_

Vicky got up from the couch and walked into her bedroom. Timmy watched her go. He sat there, thinking mostly about what his chances were of living a normal life again. There was a chance, I mean, it was none shy of 10% but there _was_ a chance. He looked back at the red head's room.

"_She's been keeping this facade up for a while now. I...guess it's not an act…" _

And who's to say it was? In all actuality, Vicky hadn't done anything wrong to him this entire situation. Given it _has_ only been a day but the point stands. He still couldn't help but have a little voice in the back of his head tell him it wasn't genuine. The years of somewhat abuse had a crater effect on his opinion of her. It wasn't like he couldn't accept her being nice, he just didn't really believe it. You can wear clothes everyday but the skin underneath is your appearance truly. The clothes being Vicky's nicer side and the skin being her normal rage fueled self. He wanted to accept her and forgive her but there was too much damage for him to feel 100% sure that it wasn't an act. Timmy being the person he is, was already 62% sure of her. But that didn't mean the other 38% didn't matter. In fact, it's what's keeping his acceptance of her at bay.

Timmy began to wish he could just have a serious conversation with her. That he could discuss her true intentions without her lying to him. He began just looking out of the window. The girl that was occupying his thoughts walked out of her door. And looked at him for a second, then called to him.

"Hey, lets go" Vicky said. She stood there while Timmy walked over to her, then they left the apartment together. The car ride was filled with a slightly comfortable silence. Vicky needed time to gather her strengths and put all of her ducks in a row, while Timmy just needed more time to accept not only Vicky but himself for what he had done. So the silence didn't bother them, as their thoughts were louder and more important than any conversation meant purely just to fill the air.

They pulled into the house's driveway and parked there. The duo both got out of the car and entered the house. Once inside, Vicky told Timmy to take a shower while she went and put her things up, and washed the car. While in the shower, Timmy thought about the upcoming days. Friday it would be a year since Vicky's disappearance. He knew for a fact now that it was the cause of her being nice, or at least the catalyst. Timmy tried hard to find clues in his head about where she had gone, just like he had the months before. Yet just like every other time, nothing.

"_Well, maybe I'll ask her on Friday. It's better than just bringing up out of nowhere and there's less chance of her being caught off guard by it"_

After showering, he sat in his room and continued thinking about how him asking her would play out. With the way she's been acting one would assume that it would play out nicely but there was also a chance of him striking a nerve by asking. He opted not to go outside because he knew she would tell him to help, and the only thing he really felt like doing was sitting alone in his thoughts. Having a conversation with himself of sorts.

"What if when I ask her, she gets mad and decides to not help me. I can't go to jail"

"_You see how she's been acting, right? She sympathizes with you"_

"Call me a fool for not thinking there's an ulterior motive"

"_Look, If you want rock hard assurance, think back to last night. She wrapped up the body, she was the first to start digging. If she did have ulterior motives, they probably have nothing to do with you."_

"That all could have been a ploy to earn my trust"

"_If you're gonna fish for reasons to not trust her, there's no helping you."_

he sighed. "I'm right, she has helped me thus far...maybe I can _try_ to trust her"

Timmy lied back on his bed and thought. His eyelids grew heavy. Nightmares and guilt were keeping him awake. He had to get some shut eye. Within the next 3 seconds, he was out like a light.

Vicky didn't really care that he went to sleep. "Kid deserves it with what he's been through" She had finished washing the car 10 minutes after Timmy went to sleep. She stared at him for about a minute when she found him sleeping. When she did, she felt something. Without her knowledge, a battle had been going on in her subconscious. With the guilt of past occurrences crushing down on her, she had started to grow a slight fondness for him. When there is guilt, there is caring. And just then at that exact moment, she felt a revelation of caring for the young brunette. A silent crashing of a wall was barely heard. An unspoken promise was made that moment. A promise that she would never try to hurt him again.

Vicky cracked a tiny, concerned smile then left downstairs. She wrote a note to let Timmy know where she was, got into her car, and drove towards the spot they had agreed to keep secret. The spot where they had buried Ricky. Unbeknownst to Vicky, a pair of headlights were following far behind her...


	6. Fade

**Riding Blind Lambs**

**Chapter 6: Fade**

Vicky's grip on the steering wheel tightened. Not only because she was going back to the place where...y'know but because she found that someone was following her, most likely a cop, and right now she needed a quick way to get it off of her trail. She was too far in her path to turn around now. She had to make a plan and fast. If she went to the site, there's no doubt she'd get caught. If she just up and turned around it'd make her seem more suspicious than she already was. Pulling into a gas station, she was able to think of a plan.

Once inside, she paid for gas, bought something to drink, and went to her car. On her way she scoped out the area and saw a very conspicuous black sedan sitting in a parking space apart from the other cars. Vicky kept walking at the same steady pace to her car. At the pump, she began to refill her tank and pulled out her phone. She had to be very fast and very precise. Once done with what she had to do, she got back in her car and went back to driving towards the site. The black sedan followed shortly after.

Vicky waited and waited while on her way to the site. Waiting for a phone call to let her know that she can make it out of this by the skin of her teeth. More moments passed by slower, and slower, and she was beginning to feel a little more nervous.

_Back at Timmy's house_

Shortly after Vicky left, Timmy woke up and was now watching TV trying to get his mind off of everything. He was able to get some sleep without any nightmares. Just enough to make him not feel like the walking essence of tired and distraught. Now he was watching cartoons. He wasn't really paying attention to what was on; something about two kids and the grim reaper. He didn't really care about what was on, the noise had soon faded into static and the picture was in front of dead eyes. He was too caught up in his daydreams to even remember where he was.

He went back to his life before he had a babysitter. His father had just started out with his pencil pushing job and his mother had finally gotten a foot in the door at a realty office. They were both busy but always made time for little Timmy. They were actually there for him at that point in time, they needed him at that point in time. Not for any personal gain, no they needed him because he was their lovechild. The brunette boy with baby blue eyes was the most precious thing in the world to the two parents.

Around when Timmy was 5, his father got a promotion; they celebrated with a huge party that indulged the whole neighborhood. Later on, his mother earned a promotion as well; they celebrated all the same. His mother and father were the happiest people in Southern California because not only could they take care of their kid, but they could also go on extravagant cruises and take their child across the globe. He could do great in school and better in social events. They could provide for their only child.

Over the next few years his mother and father were gaining promotions every few months. Enough so, that his mother eventually opened her own realty office. At first, they did as before and threw parties just like the norm. But soon the parties stopped. His parents began to get so busy they couldn't throw them anymore. Soon after, he wasn't able to see them as much as he wanted. Slowly after that, his parents began to fade as if they were but a mist in the Sahara. He still saw them on occasion but it wasn't like before. It was only when they had missed his 8th birthday that he realized that they had faded away completely. Just as their love for him did…

.

.

.

He felt a jolt awake him from his thoughts. It happened again and he realized that someone had just texted him. He reached into his pocket pulling out his phone. His eyes went wide reading the message but he still wore a plain face, staring at the words in front of him. He could read them perfectly fine, believe it or not, English was his first language. He just really didn't want her to be serious right now, he was really hoping that this was a joke but the message quite clearly told him the contrary.

With a sigh, he got up from the couch and walked up the stairs. He turned around and looked back. _"I should trust her...she wouldn't say this if it wasn't an emergency" _He looked at his phone and dialed 911, hands beginning to shake.

He heard a small muffled click and an operator began speaking to him. "911 emergency services, what is your emergency?"

"Yes, I need an ambulance. I think somethings broken and I cant move." Timmy said in an even tone. He told the operator his address and she said an ambulance would be there shortly. After that he did as he was told and called the very anxious red head. She answered the phone very quickly. "Timmy! Thank god, I was almost there an-"

"You can turn around now, I thought of something" Timmy said interrupting her and hanging up abruptly. He tossed his phone downstairs and started breathing very fast. He needed to get his blood pumping. He took a few steps back, breathing faster, and faster. Stopping, He took a deep breath and threw himself down the stairs.

_In Vicky's car_

"Timmy? TIMMY?! Fuck!" Vicky threw her phone to the floorboard. She pulled the handbrake, steering to the left eliciting a drift into a U-turn; An illegal one at that. Once the car was stable, She pushed the pedal to the floor headed straight to Timmy's house. When she looked behind her she saw the black sedan but she was just getting further away from it. She passed over a hill and just when she couldn't see him anymore. she heard the sirens. Vicky waited until the officer was just enough behind her to pull over. The black sedan turned off the siren but kept the blue and red lights flashing in the windshield.

She had to act now… She had to wrap this sad truth into a blanket of lies and if the officer believed her, she would have relatively no suspicion against her. The officer got out of his sedan and began walking to the car. And none other than officer Vince walked up to the car window.

"Ma'am, do you know how fast you were going?"

"Yes! I was going to pick up my friend from work really quick but the kid I was babysitting just called and told me that he was heading towards the hospital in an ambulance! I have to get to there now!"

"Calm down. Don't worry, which hospital do you need to go to? I can escort you." Vince was taken aback by Vicky's sudden outburst but knew this would be serious. She told him which hospital they needed to go to and they went on their way. Vicky following close behind the officer. While driving she began to think of any flaws she may have left in her plan. On her way, she called one of her friends and asked if she and her friends could vouch for her coming to pick her up; they quickly agreed. Now her story was somewhat proof. With the way that they were running through red lights, Vicky assumed that they would probably be at the hospital before Timmy.

_At the house_

Timmy woke to lightning bolts shooting all up and down his left leg, pulsating all the while. He was in a very uncomfortable position. His body was on the floor while his head was leaning very tightly against the wall. All in all, he was surprised that his neck wasn't broken. Every time he had a thought, though, it was interrupted by a shooting pain. He lied completely still so as to not make the pain worse. Every second felt like a minute and every minute felt like an hour. The 16 year old hadn't even noticed how fast he was breathing; If he kept it up, he might pass out. He tried to calm himself and eventually slowed it enough to actually rest.

He finally, after around 30 minutes, heard a knock at the door. He yelled out that it was unlocked and the paramedics rushed through the door. They asked what happened and he replied with a play by play on falling down the stairs.

"I was looking at my phone and I missed a step. I fell and-AAGH! now I cant feel my leg" He said with pain etched into his words.

"It's most likely a broken leg. Don't worry, you should be fine"

"I don't feel very fine"

"Ya don't say?" the paramedic retorted sarcastically.

At that, they picked Timmy up wrapping his arms around their shoulders and walked him to the back of the ambulance. Once they had left towards the hospital they began asking him questions. Simple questions like his name and who to contact. He told them that his babysitter would be able to meet them at the hospital; Parents not being available. His phone rang. It was Vicky calling to tell him that they were at the hospital and were waiting to meet him there. He told them that he was almost there and that he was fine, then hung up.

_At the hospital_

"So who exactly were you going to pick up?" the officer asked

"My friend called me and told me that she lost her ride home. Practically begging me, I had to say yes. Timmy had fallen asleep on his bed and I thought I would be back before he woke up, I mean, its not that far away. When I was almost there I got a call from Timmy telling me that he was on his way to the hospital and you know the rest" Vicky sputtered quickly in a panicky tone. He seemed to buy the story.

"Is he here?"

"No, he'll be here soon though. He told me he called an ambulance so I figured I'd just cut out the middle man and come here."

"Alright. Well if you have everything under control, I should probably get going."

"I should be fine. Thank you." Vicky replied. Officer Vince left soon after. Vicky sat in her seat and waited until Timmy made it to the hospital. The ambulance was in no hurry due to the lack of severity in the situation. They were really just his ride to the hospital. Which explains why it took several minutes for him to get there. Once he was walked through the doors, Vicky followed the paramedics stating that she was his guardian. After the doctor looked at his leg he had confirmed something Timmy already knew. His leg was broken but not so bad that it wouldn't recover soon. "Give it a few months and it should heal pretty nicely. So long as you don't preform any strenuous physical activities" said the doctor.

Timmy left in crutches with Vicky close behind. She felt terrible, I mean, Timmy felt worse but Vicky was feeling something that was becoming a little too familiar to her over the past year. Guilt. All because she wanted to go make sure nothing was left behind, Timmy had to pay with his leg. It seems that the harder she tried not to hurt him and even help him, she would just do the exact opposite.

She really just wanted to leave this behind her. The lies, the blackmail, the theft, all of it… maybe even Timmy. At least then she wouldn't be any more harm to him. She could let this fire burn itself out and Timmy, depending on whether or not he was caught, would hold a grudge against her for the rest of his life. But she knew she couldn't just up and leave. 1, the suspicion on her would skyrocket, and 2, She couldn't leave Timmy like that. It's like the kid practically has no one to care about him.

"_Maybe that means I have to"_ She thought somewhat wistfully while looking at him. Okay that's it. She was going to talk to him tonight. She had to. There's no doubt that he feels alone right now. Vicky went to open the door for him but he just slapped her hand away. "I can get it myself" He said, staring at the ground. She looked surprised at first but then just brushed it off, she deserved that.

Once in the car, they left for the house. She glanced at the teenager beside her. Timmy…Timmy was beginning to look worse. He was being overloaded with this series of terrible events. He was dying on the inside from depression brought on by guilt and nurtured by fear. All Vicky could think about was how she could even help him. How do you help a terminal patient? How do you resurrect a killed spirit? The answers were right in front of Vicky but she didn't want to acknowledge them. She felt like it was too hard; in her eyes, it was asking her to do the impossible.

Timmy was growing to be sadder and angrier with every moment. He was losing more of his hope. You see, hope is a flame on a beautiful, white candle. This flame is magnificent in stature and visibility. It emits a light like no other. No mere outburst of air can extinguish this flame, no simple gust can kill this blaze, but the candle isn't so lucky. The candle can't be melted but it can be broken, and withered down until it topples. Timmy was holding a candle in a hurricane and the clouds foreshadowed that the storm won't be letting up any time soon.

Vicky was under a bombardment of her own. She was beginning to feel like she was never safe anymore. Something was going to happen. She couldn't explain how but she just felt it. She 'knew' it.

Vicky was being plagued by anxiety. Anxiety is a sharp, deathly black leech that latches onto your shoulder and whispers every feasible worry you could ever imagine into your ear. It feeds on paranoia and brings upon it's host a feeling of impending doom and fear. It needs no motivation, it is devoid of empathy, it can and will destroy the host for nothing other than the performance of the action. It is a truly insidious creature meant only to rob the host of it's security until it expires and right now Vicky was listening to every word it said as if fact.

_Meanwhile…_

Officer Vince was on his way to the house of Vicky's friend to question her about Vicky's story. Something just didn't add up. Why couldn't she take the kid with her? There were two seats in the back that were completely empty. There was something Vicky knew that she wasn't sharing with him. Her mannerisms said it all. That look of surprise that she had on wasn't so genuine and why was she laughing so hard when they were leaving Mr. Daniel's apartment? Vince was no sailor, but it didn't take Captain Ahab to know something was fishy.

Pulling into the gas station that Vicky told him about, he got out of his car and walked into the front doors towards the cash register. He asked the cashier if the manager was here and the teenager obliged him by walking him to the back office and meeting with a female that looked to be in her 30's.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. Officer Vince, Dimmsdale Police; do you know any of your employees that needed to get a ride home from their friends?"

"Well there were two; Chris and Jenn"

"I might have some questions for Jenn. Do you know where I can find her?"

"Sure. She lives in a trailer park near the suburbs; the one by the elementary school. You'll know it when you see it."

"Thank you. I have just one more question, do you know this woman?" Vince said, handing her a picture of Vicky.

"Yeah, just saw her earlier today. Bought some gas and something to drink."

"Has she been here before?"

"Nah, first time I've ever seen her was today" She said leaning into her chair.

"Good to know. You've been a great help, thank you." Vince said leaving the back office of the gas station.

At that, he left on his way to a certain trailer park. He knew which one she was talking about. He passed it while he was tailing Vicky. He was banking on her being home. If she wasn't, he'd have to wait a full day until he could go back to the investigation. There were other people in this homicide that he had to question as well. If he was right and she _was_ hiding something, she would go from person of interest to suspect.

The detective pulled into the trailer park. Jenn had noticed the car. When the car had stopped in front of her trailer, she walked outside and approached the vehicle with a baseball bat in hand.

"LOOK I SAID I'D HAVE YOUR REN- oh I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else" She said dropping the bat. Jenn was a fairly cute woman. She had smooth, short, black hair. A thin woman and from the smell of her breath, you could tell she was a smoker.

"Is you're name Jenn?" the officer asked.

"Depends on who's asking.."

"Dimmsdale Homicide" He said raising an eyebrow.

"Oh uhh sure, yeah, why?"

"Do you know this woman?" He said handing her a photo of Vicky

"Yeah that's my friend Vicky, why?" She said with a quizzical look. But she knew what was coming. Vicky warned her about it, and she agreed to help get the cops off of her trail. She was all for helping her friend but lets just say that she wasn't as good at lying as Vicky is.

"Was she supposed to pick you up from work at 6pm today?"

"Oh yeah, she flaked out on me, though; had to get my mom to pick me up. Wasn't the first time" She said with a small chuckle. The officer raised an eyebrow and pulled out his notebook.

"What do you mean it wasn't the first time?"

"Oh she's picked me up from work before but lately she's been flaking out"

"I see, has she given you any reason as to why she didn't show up`?" He said with his pen in hand.

"Babysitting" she said simply.

"Right...Jenn, I talked to your manager and she told me that she's never seen Vicky come pick you up ever. You do know that not telling me anything is an offense right?"

"Oh...well that's because I had a job before this one. I worked at Wall 2 Wall Mart"

"Ah I see, did she call you and tell you why she couldn't make it?" He asked in an even tone. That was it. He had a verbal trap set. If she stepped in his snare, Vicky might as well have a target on her back. He just had to wait for her answer. He already had her slip up once, if she did it again. Vicky was a suspect.

"Yeah, poor kid she was supposed to be babysitting got hurt pretty bad, she didn't tell me what happened to him though." She said with a slight frown.

"I see. Thank you, miss. You're help is truly appreciated." He said putting his notebook into his pocket. Getting into his car, he ignited the engine and drove off.

He left the trailer park and headed home. It was getting late and he had all he needed. Tomorrow he would go to officer Till and tell him these new developments. Now he had all he needed for Vicky to be a suspect in this case. Vicky wasn't on her way to pick her friend up and when she realized she was being followed, she called her friend and made her vouch for her. Now he only had two questions; Where was she originally going and why was she going there? He thought long and hard about these on his way home.

"We're here" Vicky said turning to Timmy

"..."

Vicky looked down with a little hurt in her eyes and a nod of acceptance. "Well I'm going to go inside..." She looked off into the distance, wondering whether or not to initiate this process of healing. "When you're ready" She continued, looking out of the window. "I need to talk to you about something...take as long as you want, I think we'll have the time for now. I'm not a suspect as far as I know and they still haven't found Ricky's body so there might not be that much need for rushing."

She opened the door to her car and left towards the front door of the house. Timmy sat there in thought. His eyes stone dead on the floorboard. He was on the pinnacle of his dread, now deciding whether or not to jump into the fall and release himself into his own despair. Whether to give in and accept that his life was over. He looked down to see darkness and nothing more. He began assessing all of the reasons why he should and shouldn't. The pros outweighed the cons but for some reason he couldn't find it in him to jump right now.

So he sat there in wait until he could reach a decision…

**A boy left in an internal struggle for his own life and a girl fighting to mend her relationship with him, both on the brink of their own destruction, must fight to keep their lives from falling to shambles****…**


	7. Amends Pt1

**A/N: Sorry I took a waaay longer than expected to put out this chapter. I was having complications with housing and what not. But I'm not dead and updates are coming soon I promise.**

**I think I have to explain myself in why they are running in the first place. I understand that in real life this case would have been a simple self defense one but my understanding is that the time had already ran out and they made a bad call. With the time already have been passed there would be no way to prove that it was self defense and since they both would be suspected, their word means little to nothing now.**

**Also, there was a mix up in how old they were. Timmy is 14 about to be 15, and Vicky is 19. I posted in the previous chapter that Timmy was 16 by accident.**

**Riding Blind Lambs**

**Chapter 7: Amends Pt.1**

Vicky sat there in the living room waiting for Timmy to come talk to her but was beginning to think that he wasn't even considering it. It had been 30 minutes now. The time had been passing very fast. If it were true that time was relative to how much you were enjoying yourself, then Vicky was having the time of her life. Except she wasn't; In fact, she was having the worst time in her life. She had been holding in so many emotions and fears for so long now. When she finally decided to give in and vent all of her frustrations and apologies to the one person that was there, he didn't want to hear it.

She put her face in her hands. As strange as it sounds, she was close to holding back tears. The prickling sensation in her eyes was there but she was damned if she was going to let a single one fall. You had to give the girl some credit; even on her last legs, she wasn't gonna cry. Getting up, she went to the kitchen to preoccupy herself. Anything was better than being alone with her thoughts. Anything was better than sinking into your own void.

The young 14 year old decided that the car wasn't comfy enough to sleep in. He _was_ willing to sleep on the hard asphalt to avoid whatever Vicky was going to tell him but his bed is softer. Chances are she was going to use him again. Probably to get out of this mess. He wanted to trust that she had the best intentions...wait...no...no he _didn't_ want to trust her. Trusting her flew right out the window the moment she made him do something that drastic. It was the only thing he could think of to cause enough alarm for her to make it home safe. If he hadn't trusted her, he wouldn't have a broken leg.

She owed him. It wasn't her kindness now, no, now it was her obligation to get him out of this mess. But what good was she if she couldn't get out of a bind by herself. Timmy was beginning to question whether she knew what she was doing or not. What if the playing field wasn't as advantageous as he originally thought? What if all of these odds were stacked against him. Maybe he completely overestimated her expertise in this situation; God help him if he did. Before panic got the best of him, he left the car and walked towards the front door.

He opened the door as quietly as he could, which wasn't very quiet at all. They really needed to grease the door's hinges. Vicky walked through the kitchen door and they both kinda froze, essentially being deer in headlights. Timmy stared at her. Vicky started to speak but as soon as her mouth opened, he hopped on one leg as fast as he could upstairs. He fumbled and almost fell right back down but he damn sure wasn't going to talk to her right now. Getting back up, he dashed to his room.

Vicky just looked down and sat back on the couch with a sandwich and drink in hand. The 14 year old closed the door as fast as he could hoping that she wouldn't follow. Much to his relief, she didn't. He sat against the door and held his leg in pain. It was like stretching his skin whenever he tried to walk on it. It's like his entire leg was a giant, overly sensitive bruise. When the sensation came to a lull, he started to weigh his options. He needed a plan B in the case that he was right about Vicky.

If the shit hit the fan and the police caught on to the whole murder he would need an ace in the hole. A trump card that would, at the very least, stunt the polices trail on them. He looked through his contacts for names that had any significance to their situation. All the while, Vicky sat down in the living room feeling just about the most feeble she could in her entire life. She was sure that there was no way the police caught on, that assurance brought her a small comfort.

Her phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Vicky, the police just came by"

"Jenn, tell me _exactly_ what you told them" Vicky said in a careful, worried tone.

"I told them that you were suppose to pick me up today like you usually do but you called and had to cancel cause of the kid that you were watching"

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, I told him you used to pick me up from Wall2WallMart when I worked there"

"YOU NEVER WORKED THERE!"

"I know! He was starting to interrogate me and I panicked! Besides, besides its not like they know I didn't work there" She said defensively trying to calm Vicky down.

"And you think they wont check?! Jenn, they will search every nook and cranny trying to find out everything about me and what you just did put me in a huge spotlight. You have no idea what you've just done!"

It was silence until Jenn spoke. "Vicky,…what did you do..?" She sounded scared.

"…" Vicky hung up. She didn't know what to say. If she told anyone besides Timmy, they would be done for. You cant trust anyone when you're in a situation like hers. All of her careful decisions were falling apart at the seams and unlike the past. She was done for, her goose was cooked. Sitting down, she stared in front of her, going through every scenario possible. Recounting every single decision she made so that she could find any means of worming her way out of this. But to no avail. With this sudden realization, she just gave in. She threw her phone at the wall and began crying her eyes out.

Within seconds, the brutal, strong, sturdy woman that she was crumbled into the likes of a toddler. She was scared. She was so anxious and defeated. Everything was left up to her and she just couldn't take it. The levy broke, and with that flowed out plethora of memories, regret, and heartache. Her ship had sunk. Now she was free floating in the pacific without a life vest. Frantically grasping at the air with hopes of coming to contact with an invisible rope. Wishing that by some miracle she would be saved by divine intervention.

But it doesn't work out like that; It never does. Magic isn't real, there are no other dimensional beings that can help you out of conflicts, and even if there were such a being to help her, she wasn't worth it. All of her past deeds were coming back at her ten fold. The former force to be reckoned with fell on the couch and laid in fetal position uttering apologies and obscenities all the same. indulging in her own sorrow. There was nothing she could do and she was beginning to accept that.

After about 30 minutes, her sobs became dry and she laid there tired. Over that amount of time she kept thinking and thinking about what she could do. Chances are the police will want to search her apartment. When really thinking about it, she came to the conclusion that there was nothing incriminating there, so she could just act shocked and accept without conflict. Going back to the site was off limits now, so assuming there was nothing there was the only thing she could do.

Vicky decided she would figure out the rest tomorrow, she had to sleep. But first she needed to do something else. Getting up, she made her way up the stairs. The red head was going to do something she had been meaning to do for a long time. She

made it to his bedroom door and knocked. He didn't answer so she knocked again. Still no answer so she knocked again and cracked the door to the room open. He was on his bed and awake but he rolled over to not face her.

"Timmy, I know that you're going through a lot right now. I know that you hate me at this point and I understand. I've asked for too much from you and with what you did, I shouldn't be asking for anything. I wish I had just called the police so we wouldn't be in this mess, but I freaked and didn't know what to do. There isn't a guarantee on how long we wont be suspected but if anything happens, I just want you to know that…I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry, Timmy."

She started to walk off but turned around to make an addition to her apology "Timmy, I know you probably feel very alone but if you ever need anyone to talk to...I'm here whenever you need me." And at that, she left a very teary eyed, very conflicted Turner to his thoughts. The red head felt a meaningful weight lift off of her shoulders. She felt good. For the first time in what seemed like forever she felt good. Tonight she would sleep relatively easy, the young man in the floor above her, however, would not.

He laid there. Why was he tearing up? She wasn't worth his tears. She wasn't worth much to him anymore, though admittedly it wasn't much to begin with. Who was she to apologize? Who did she think she is? You can't just hurt, and hurt, and hurt, and suddenly say sorry, and everything be okay. That's not how it works, not in the real world at least. She was trying to get at him. Keep him in palm of her hand like she always had and just use him until he was of none. The only way he saw things ending up now was him behind bars.

But what would she have to gain out of apologizing? I mean, if it really were the case that she was trying to use him to get out of this and jail him, wouldn't she had just called the police and turned him in? Vicky was manipulative, she could just tell the cops that he made her bury the body. What did she have to gain out of that whole spill? Critically thinking, Timmy couldn't really find a reason that would make her apology disingenuous. I mean, he found two but both of them were both pretty unrealistic.

What if she was _actually_ sorry about everything for the past few days? What if the fiery female actually had a heart? Its not impossible but it sure is unexpected. Yeah, she was better than her old self but it was still very clear to Timmy that she was unknown to empathy and care. The multitude of failed tries to befriend her spoke that very loud and clear. Did she even _have_ friends? It doesn't matter. What mattered is that Vicky just did something she would have never done if she were not in this situation. And that meant something, Turner just didn't know what exactly it was.

Timmy stayed up for 2 hours straight doing nothing but contemplating what her true intentions were. It was so easy to be unsure. It was sensible to be unsure! But if she was actually serious about being apologetic for the past few days, does that mean that she could be sorry for the past few years? Timmy was at the beginning of reaching a meaningful realization. He was actually beginning to think her being caring and regretful maybe wasn't such an inconceivable thing. But not so much that he threw away caution.

She was right in a sense. He did feel alone. He thought he wanted to be but Vicky had just placed a seed of doubt in his thoughts. Timmy wasn't an idiot, he knew that if he sank any deeper into this oppressing feeling that it would eventually be his end. But with knowing that, he still just wanted to lay down and loathe himself.

With Timmy hard at work to deepen the whole he was digging for himself, it was no surprise when he reached 6 feet. He was exactly where he felt he deserved to be now; on level with Ricky. He felt a sorrowful contentment now. He could sit dormant and let whatever happens happen. The guilt had overpowered him. The young Turner slept in his grave. Yet unbeknownst to him, the skies above began to show signs of a dawn approaching.

_The next morning_

Timmy woke to the smell of bacon and coffee. It was intoxicating. The smell of thin, greasy, pork strips flooded his nostrils and overpowered his longing to stay in bed. He threw the covers off of him and hobbled to the bathroom to relieve himself before he went downstairs. He left the bathroom and went to walk downstairs before realizing he was only in his boxers. After putting on some shorts and walking downstairs the brunette was greeted with a full plate of food complete with eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes.

He was too focused on the food to notice the 19 year old sitting across from him. He began eating and it was delicious. Not eating for so long can really make you hungry. After he cleaned his plate and put up the dish, he actually noticed Vicky. She was dressed in her typical attire but she was also wearing a faint smile. Wasn't really as happy smile, but a hopeful one. Seeing her smile usually brought upon the end of days so he was slightly brought out of his daze speechless.

"Hey.." Vicky started

"Uh hey..." He said looking away from her. It seemed as though him not using his voice for the past few days had taken its toll on his vocal chords. His voice was low and relatively deep. Maybe his gaining age was beginning to show.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked, trying to ignore the awkward air around them. He just nodded his head. "Good, good. Listen, since we've both been under a lot of fire, I think we should go do something today. Like go somewhere or something. Take our minds off of all this. I know what you're thinking and don't worry, we have plenty of time to actually enjoy some of our day". Timmy contemplated it before shaking his head.

"Oh…well we could watch some movies or I could get a game system from my apartment or-"

"Vicky" He said interrupting and looking back towards her. He just looked at her. Speaking with his eyes. He wasn't wearing a look of bitterness, he was wearing one that simply said 'not now'. She took what he said by nodding and looking down.

'Walking' out of the kitchen and upstairs, Timmy went to take a shower. The entire time he was doing so, he kept dwelling in his conundrum on whether or not he should forgive Vicky. The obvious cons were him being afraid of getting hurt again but in all reality that wasn't even a sound argument. He was basically numb now, how can you sink deeper in rock bottom? Even though that was a good point, it still took him the entirety of an hour to decide.

After he was finished showering he quietly crutched downstairs and sat on the couch. Vicky looked at him but quickly looked back at the TV so as to not offend in any way. She was being cautious, she wanted to repair this dilapidated bridge she had been so close to burning. Timmy looked on at the television. He was completely silent and still. He showed no signs sadness but wore a look that spoke lengths of his exhaustion. His half lidded eyes and dead stare compared to his former joyous and hopeful smile would break the heart of the worlds most despicable.

But despite him looking as he did, there was an invisible brightness to the room. The atmosphere was clear, the air was thin and not heavy. You could almost say it was as if nothing ever happened. She wasn't forgiven; she wasn't even close, and their situation was still very threatening. Yet they were sharing the room just as they were in the past year. The fact that they were basically on the run was ignored.

Vicky, at first, was scared. She was broken and her only means of repair was a teenager's forgiveness. This moment was somewhat of a turning point in their lives. It was an opportunity for both of them to gain not only their humanity, but their happiness. Vicky was drowning closer and closer to asphyxiation, but was finally given the rope she needed. It wasn't divine intervention but it was enough to give her hope. She would grab the rope and climb her way out of remorse, and hopelessness.

This was her chance. This was her time to put her money where her mouth was. There was no room for uncertainty when it came to going down this road. An inaudible determination was brought upon the red head. She'd prove herself to him and be on her way down the path of forgiveness not only from him but herself. If she could make it out of this alive, then maybe Timmy could too. The sun was beginning to rise, bringing with it redemption and revelation. Maybe today would actually be a new day.


End file.
